In Late Latin “vos” began being used to address someone formally, such as a superior or an elderly person.

Late Latin “You”

Singular

Plural

Informal

tu

vos

Formal

vos

vos

Old Spanish inherited the Late Latin system in which “vos” was both the plural and formal form of “you,” and “tú” was the singular, informal form.

Vos gained usage and began loosing its formality to the point where it meant almost the same thing as “tú”-

Singular

Plural

Informal

tú/vos

vos

Formal

vos

vos

This created a problem for Spanish speakers who suddenly had one word for four different concepts. Imagine how frustrated you’d be if there were suddenly no words for individual fruits and you wanted to order a smoothie or make a clever sexual innuendo.

Clearing up the Confusion

And so the quest began to fill the linguistic gap.

New Plural “you”

Spanish speakers began saying “vos otros” (you others) to distinguish between the plural and singular “vos.” This is similar to the way English speakers sometimes say “You all” to address a group of people.

Perhaps under the influence of this new term, “nos” was expanded and became “nosotros.”

New Formal “you”

A variety of new terms were used to express the formality that had been lost in “vos”:

Vuestra merced (“your grace”)

Señoría (“lordship”)

Tu merced (“your grace”)

Vuestra excelencia (“your excellence”)

Vuestra majestad (“your majesty”)

The term “vuestra merced” (“your grace”) won over as the formal form of address, with “vuestras mercedes” (your graces) being used as the plural, formal form.

Because “vuestra merced” and “vuestras mercedes” were third person nouns, they were conjugated as such:

Quiere vuestra merced su cena?

Does your grace want his dinner?

Quieren vuestras mercedes su cena?

Do your graces want their dinner?

This created the system-

Singular

Plural

Informal

tú/vos

vosotros

Formal

vuestra merced

vuestras mercedes

And at last, Spanish speakers had what they’d wanted- 4 words for 4 different concepts, with one to spare.

Everyone Loves Usted

“Vuestra merced” went through a series of contractions, sometimes being used as vuesarced, voacé, vucé, vuced, vested. It was finally combined to “Usted.”

Because “Usted” and “Ustedes” are contractions of third person nouns, they are conjugated as such: